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Gordon Abiama

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Program Director Nigeria

Mr. Gordon Abiama, born in the town of Odi, Bayelsa State in Nigeria's oil rich region is the leader of the local ERI Odi Ecovillage team that is currently developing a Living & Learning Centre as part of an overall ecovillage project. He has been with ERI since 2004. He is also the Director of Africa Centre for Geoclassical Economics, a local based non governmental organization that is dedicated to sustainable development practices and eco justice pedagogy.

His organization, Africa Centre for Geoclassical Economics is an Associate member of the International Union for Land Value Taxation which has consultative status with the United Nations Sessions on Financing for Development. It is dedicated to the advocacy of green taxation and land value policies that are rooted in an ethic of fair rights to the resources of the earth for all. Sustainable and equitable public finance is a complimentary component as is a holistic approach to the issue of sustainable development.In the year 2000, he has been involved with several key projects like tree planting campaigns, organizing of conferences, local weekly radio talk shows and the facilitation of hundreds of thousands of donated university level books, hundreds of computers and several 40 ft container-loads of donated medical equipment to the people and government of Bayelsa State to help improve the healthcare delivery system. These are in collaboration with Earth Rights Institute. His organization also partners with Benin City based NGO, African Network for Economic and Environmental Justice (ANEEJ) with the Heinrich Boll Foundation to advocate for oil revenue transparency and budget monitoring in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. This makes Africa Centre for Geoclassical Economics an active member organization of the coalition of over 53 NGOs called the Publish What You Pay Campaign (PWYP) aimed at getting both the oil companies operating in Nigeria and the government to be more transparent in their dealings.Gordon Abiama is also a volunteer instructor in Principles of Political Economy the Henry George Institute of New York and also serves as a Member of the Board of The Bayelsa State Project Advisory Council (SPAC) of the current World Bank/Bayelsa State Government Local Empowerment & Environmental Management Project (LEEMP). LEEMP, as a World Bank assisted project is designed to establish an institutional mechanism for transferring investment resources to communities, in order to enable them finance their own development priorities. It also emphasizes the sustainable management of the environment as a prerequisite to sustainable livelihoods and development. This programme took off in Bayelsa State in 2004.Gordon Abiama is a graduate of Journalism, Political Economy and Marketing Communications of the London School of Journalism, the Henry George Institute, USA and Harford University, USA respectively. In December 2006, he was elected to the Board of Directors of the Henry George Institute. He has attended several notable capacity building workshops organized by organizations like Amnesty International, World Bank, USAID etc, and is a Memberof the World Council on Renewable Energy (WCRE). A seasoned journalist who began his journalism career with Nigeria’s Daily Times newspaper in 1978, Gordon Abiama has held several top positions including EDITOR of the prestigious glossy general interest monthly, PROFILES Magazine. He has been widely published and is married to Rose with one son, Ebinimi.PUBLICATONS•Consulting Editor - Tropical Construction and Design Magazine - 1987• Literary Journal: Evergreen Review - Publisher/Editor - 1988• "The Challenges of Democracy and Natural Resource Management forSustainable Development in Nigeria"(Paper Presented at the InauguralConference of the African Federation of Green Parties Held in Dakar,Senegal, March 2001o Article - "Fighting The Hell of Poverty" publishedin https://www.ineteconomics.org/o Article - "Of Peace War and Land Rights: The View fromNigeria" Paper read at the 2002 conference of the Council ofGeorgist Organizations held in Canada. Publishedin Institute for International Thinking https://www.ineteconomics.org/o Article - "To Shore up A Crumbling City" Also publishedin Institute for International Thinking https://www.ineteconomics.org/o Article - "Social Fragmentation and The Great Gulf" - Published inAmerican Journal, FRAGMENTS - March 2001 edition. (I was theNigeria Correspondent before the publisher Dr Jack Schwartzmanpassed away in January 2002 at the age of 90)

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The Earth is the birthright of all people

Earth Rights Institute (ERI) is designed to be an equilateral knowledge platform, where local people collaborate with academics and development professionals, both local and foreign, by exchanging skills, experiences, and knowledge to solve crucial development issues such as widespread poverty, land right disputes and environmental degradation.